places_service 0.1.5

A service that makes it easy to get information from the Places Api

Places Service

The Places Service is a Dart library that simplifies interaction with the Google Places API by wrapping it through the google_maps_webservice package. It provides an easy-to-use interface for fetching auto-complete suggestions, place details, and nearby places based on the user's current location.

---

Features

• Auto-complete Suggestions: Get a list of address suggestions based on user input.
• Place Details: Fetch detailed information about a specific place using its placeId.
• Nearby Places: Retrieve a list of places near the user's current location.
• Session Management: Automatically manages session tokens for API requests.

---

Installation

Add the places_service library to your pubspec.yaml file:

dependencies:
  places_service: ^1.0.0

---

Usage

1. Initialize the Service

Before using the service, you must initialize it with your Google Places API key.

_placesService.initialize(
  apiKey: 'YOUR_GOOGLE_PLACES_API_KEY',
);

If you're following the FilledStacks recommended setup, this can be done in the StartUpViewModel.

---

2. Get Auto-complete Suggestions

To fetch address suggestions based on user input, use the getAutoComplete method.

final autoCompleteSuggestions = await _placesService.getAutoComplete('cape town');

This returns a list of PlacesAutoCompleteResult objects containing:

• placeId
• description
• mainText
• secondaryText

---

3. Get Place Details

Once you have a placeId from the auto-complete results, you can fetch detailed information about the place using the getPlaceDetails method.

final placeDetails = await _placesService.getPlaceDetails('ID_FROM_AUTO_COMPLETE');

This returns a PlacesDetails object containing:

• streetNumber
• streetShort
• streetLong
• city
• state
• zip
• lat (latitude)
• lng (longitude)
• searchString (formatted address)

---

4. Get Nearby Places

To fetch a list of places near the user's current location, use the getPlacesAtCurrentLocation method.

final nearbyPlaces = await _placesService.getPlacesAtCurrentLocation();

This returns a list of PlacesLocation objects containing:

• id
• latitude
• longitude
• placeName

---

Error Handling

The service throws a PlacesApiException if any issues occur during API requests. You can catch and handle these exceptions in your code.

try {
  final suggestions = await _placesService.getAutoComplete('new york');
} catch (e) {
  print('Error: ${e.toString()}');
}

---

Example

Here’s a complete example of how to use the Places Service:

void main() async {
  final placesService = PlacesService();

  // Initialize with your API key
  placesService.initialize(apiKey: 'YOUR_GOOGLE_PLACES_API_KEY');

  // Get auto-complete suggestions
  final suggestions = await placesService.getAutoComplete('new york');
  print('Suggestions: $suggestions');

  // Get place details
  if (suggestions.isNotEmpty) {
    final placeId = suggestions.first.placeId;
    final details = await placesService.getPlaceDetails(placeId);
    print('Place Details: $details');
  }

  // Get nearby places
  final nearbyPlaces = await placesService.getPlacesAtCurrentLocation();
  print('Nearby Places: $nearbyPlaces');
}

---

Notes

• Ensure you have enabled the Google Places API in your Google Cloud Console.
• The service automatically generates and manages session tokens for API requests.
• For location-based features, ensure your app has the necessary permissions to access the device's location.

---

License

This library is provided under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more details.

---

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request on the GitHub repository.

---

Enjoy using the Places Service! 🚀